Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-12-01
KEEPING CELERY.
A Summarized Plan Furnished BY An IL.
perienced Farmer.

sNSSs S6e6nbs
a summarized Pfan Furnished by An Ex.
Perienced Farmer.
His first move before making The
trench for the plants is to pillow the
soil in lands three or four yards wide.
leaving a dead furrow in the center.
I'VE plow." he says. ''at least three
times. sticking the pillow in the second
or thru time almost up to the beam.
This repeated blowing leaves mass
Of fine. loose. mellow soil on each side
Of the trench. At the bottom of this
dead furrow dig out trench foot or
fifteen inches wide. and set in the eel
cry plants as in the former case. We
draw the celery plants on stone-boa
to the trenches. And in taking them
up we leave considerable soil adhering
to the roots. Do not bruise the celery.
and if any of the leaves are touched
with frost cut off the parts affected. 1t
is much easier to keep out decay than
to stop it after it has started. With
an abundance of loose. fine earth all
around the trench. nothing is
easier than to place the plants
nicely and properly in the trench.
with little earth between. In fact.
it will be easier to put in the earth
than to keep it ont. as it is necessary
to draw the earth plowed out back to
the trench, and more or less of it will
get in between the plants This is
just what you want but you must
avoid letting the earth get between
the stalks of the plants. as it is much
trouble to wash it when preparing the
celery for the table. Cover the trench
with boards as before mentioned.
Cover the boards a foot thick with
straw. and throw earth upon it from
the sides of the trench. We do not
usually finish the work at once. If the
weather is warm there may he danger
of the celery heating in the trench.
This must be specially guarded
against This is why we like to have
earth between the plants. Instead of
throwing on all the earth on the top
and sides Of the trench at once, we pre-
fer to wait until about the 1st of d.
cember, or just before very severe
frost sets in. The plants
are sufficiently protected TO
keep out rain, and to pre-
vent injury from one nights FROST
however sudden and severe it may be.
Then the soil on each side Of the
trench is so loose and porous that we
can Eow it or spade it easily. while
unbroken soil is frozen solid. At this
final covering up for the winter, put
on another layer Of straw and cover it
up thoroughly with earth. and that is
all there is to do. 1t will form a ridge
high enough to shed rain. and of course
you will see that there is no danger Oh
water soaking into the celery trench
from the surface. When celery is kept
in this way in trench, spaded out of
firm, unplowed earth, it will be neces-
sary to take little more pains to keep
out frost. The danger is not SO much
from the top as from the sides of the
trench. where the earth is unbroken.
A covering of leaves. or pine needles.
or chat, or straw. for yard or more
on each side of the trench. and foot
thick, will make you entirely safe. 1t
will be we'll to cover with fine earth.
celery will keep just as well in a
cool cellar as in a trench, provided
that it is treated precisely as though it
was in trench. The roots must he
in contact with moist earth, and there
must be earth enough around the
plants to prevent too much
evaporation. Draw a cart-load or
more of fine, clean, sandy soil
into the cellar. Place board, a foot
or more wide. edgewise on the cellar
floor. parallel to the cellar wall. and
from eighteen inches to two feet from
it. Make it firm in any way most con-
venient. In this box or trench set up
the celery. Pack the earth around the
roots and between the plants-the
higher up the better. If you have
only few heads to keep in the cellar
at a time. they may be set in a box.
eighteen inches or two feet deep, treat
ed precisely in the same way as above.
If the soil at the bottom of the box
gets dry. it must be watered. A good
plan would be to set the box in water
an inch or two deep. but this not al
ways convenient. Another plan is to
make hole down through the celery
inside the box. say at the corner. and
pour in few quarts of water. or until
the soil around the roots is saturated.
Celery that is partially blanched will
keep together longer than if already
blanched sufficiently for the table.
Good. sound. vigorous plants. that are
growing when taken up. will blanch
to some extent in the cellar or trench.
But for this to take place it is neces-
sary for the roots to have moist soil
around them" Ohio Farmer.
To Cure Kicking Cows.
We have seen various devices recon-
l. 4 r. L. l.